Kathmandu, Oct. 21 -- A Turkish Airlines aircraft sustained minor damage to a light on its nose landing gear after a pigeon struck the plane as it was landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning.

According to an airport official, the bird strike occurred at 6:36am (Nepal time) as the aircraft was on its approach to land. A subsequent inspection found minor damage to the light attached to the nose landing gear. There were no reports of damage to the landing gear itself.

Following the incident, Tribhuvan International Airport was closed until 7:48am to allow the runway to be cleaned. Flight operations were disrupted as airport personnel worked to remove the bird's remains from the runway.

An airport airsi...